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Why Is Indebted Maine GOP Paying Their Own Chairman For Consulting?

AUTHOR’S NOTE: After this article was posted, new information came to light showing the Maine Ethics Commission’s reports incorrect. This is unfortunate, as various pieces of information in this article was based on information presented as correct by the Ethics Commission.

I do not stand by statements made related to financial figures that are shown to be incorrect, for obvious reasons. I will not be deleting them, because I do not believe in “scrubbing.” The mistake is there, but noted it is incorrect. For details on this issue, please refer to my follow up article, “Ethics Commission Botches Maine GOP Financial Reports.”

I do, however, stand by statements unrelated to financial figures from the report. This includes criticism of Maine Republican Party chairman Rick Bennett voting against party grassroots at the RNC, various liberty “leaders” selling out the liberty movement by supporting Bennett over Sam Canders for Chair, and Bennett being paid for “strategy consulting.”

-Chris

If you follow Maine Republican Party “inside baseball”, nothing makes sense anymore. It hasn’t for a while. 2012 was chaos when a civil war between the Ron Paul grassroots and the power hungry establishment brought the Party down. 2013 became the year when many principled libertarians defected, while other liberty activists sold out to the establishment they once fought.

Long story short, Maine Republicans, with the help of various liberty “leaders”, are stuck with Rick Bennett. Sam Canders, a veteran and National Delegate, put up a strong fight against the former National Committeeman. Unfortunately, the worst of three evils became chairman.

But maybe those who opposed a principled veteran know something we don’t, and that’s why the Maine Republican Party paid their own chairman $11,357.04 for “strategy consulting.”

Maybe Bennett can teach principled candidates how to lose critical primaries to weak, moderate perennial losers. It’s always an important lesson as the party enters an election cycle that has a lot on the line, including the Blaine House.

But at least he’s making money for “strategy consulting.” Not even the Maine Democratic Party pays it’s own Chairman to do his job.

The Maine Republican Party is still buried in well over $100,000 in debt. What’s another $11,000 out the window?

An amended finance report shows that the Maine Republican Party is $139,945.92 in debt. By comparison, the Maine Democratic Party has $655,188.55 on hand. The Maine Democratic Party could afford to pay Chairman Ben Grant Bennett’s “strategy consulting” x59,545 and still have some cash on hand.

That’s sad.

To be fair though, the Maine Democratic Party receives much more in donations. According to campaign finance reports, cash contributions amount to $665,162.17. This is far beyond the Maine Republican Party, which only hit $74,145.00.

Everyone give Bennett a round of applause for that clearly effective strategy that earned him $11,357.04.

While the problems with the Republican Party include much more than the State Chairman, he has helped worsen the divide between the establishment and grassroots activists. Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus joined the Mitt Romney presidential campaign in rigging the coronation and helping eliminate challenges in the future. These new rules changes came up for a vote this year, when Bennett sent State Senate candidate and former Ron Paul state director Eric Brakey to vote for the power grab.

The future doesn’t look good for Republicans. This is bad for America as it is enabling the increase of Democratic policies. While the Republican Party isn’t talented in the principles department, it would be beneficial for all Americans if the Democratic Party had legitimate opponents. But they don’t.

Maine loses in the end. But at least Maine Republican Party chairman Rick Bennett made $11,357.04 for “strategy consulting.”

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About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.

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Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.